The interplay of parental and child-related characteristics on paediatric COVID-19 vaccine non-acceptance in Hungary.

As the rate of vaccine non-acceptance creates alarming public health challenges, it becomes essential to understand how the interplay between parental and child characteristics influences the uptake of voluntary vaccinations among children. The experiences gained during the COVID-19 pandemic are crucial for developing more targeted communication strategies and increasing vaccination rates in the future. This research analyses data from 13 representative Hungarian surveys focusing on parents' attitudes towards vaccinating their children against COVID-19, giving information of 2482 respondents altogether. The reasons for vaccine non-acceptance are investigated using both quantitative and qualitative methods, with attention given to characteristics of both the parent and the child. The interplay of parental and child characteristics significantly shapes vaccination decisions on voluntary paediatric vaccination. Parental attributes-such as previous COVID-19 experience, sources of information about the virus and vaccination, socioeconomic status, and gender-and child attributes, including age, gender, and the presence of chronic illness, affected not only the likelihood of vaccine non-acceptance but also the underlying rationale. These rationales included, e.g. beliefs that the pandemic does not pose a threat, concerns about potential side effects, distrust, and arguments rooted in misinformation. The quantitative and qualitative results explain interactions of individual factors, proving that subgroup patterns may be modified by individual experience, and individualized information could further decrease the rate of non-acceptance.